The 2012 season was far from the one Michael Vick expected to have with the Eagles. Now his future is in limbo. / Derick E. Hingle, USA TODAY Sports

by Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports

by Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports

PHILADELPHIA - The City of Brotherly Love will always be a special place for Michael Vick. After his horrendous fall from grace stemming from his role in a dogfighting ring and a 23-month prison sentence, this is where he landed to get his career back.

Now, more than three years later, it's time for an exit interview. This chapter is closed.

Barring some unforeseen move by the next Philadelphia Eagles coach, Vick, 32, will set foot in The Linc on Sunday for the last time as a member of the home team.

"This is not how you want to go out," Vick told USA TODAY Sports. "But it is what it is. Everything that happened, it's football. Our organization may be headed in a different direction. Whether I'm a part of it or not, I've got to accept it.

"I'm just trying to take the best approach, and have a sense of gratitude more than anything. Obviously, I wish things would have been different. It could have been different. But I've got to just keep pushing forward."

Vick won't play on Sunday, unless there's an emergency. Cleared to return after sitting out five games with a major concussion, he will be the third quarterback. He spent part of practices this week mimicking RGIII ‚?? who, incidentally, he is a huge fan of ‚?? as the scout team quarterback. Rookie Nick Foles is the starter now, which even Vick admits makes sense with the Eagles (4-10) playing out the string of a dismal season.

Yet after putting his life back together and igniting a comeback to the point that the Eagles traded previous quarterback-of-the-future Kevin Kolb and traded quarterback-of-the-past Donovan McNabb, Vick could never quite blossom into the star that matches his breathtaking talent. He was derailed by turnovers.

The numbers from this season were brutal. He committed 14 turnovers in his nine games, including nine interceptions. His 79.2 passer rating is his lowest for a season since 2003. He also took 27 sacks, not all of which could be blamed on his depleted offensive line.

So, here he is, the third-string quarterback ‚?? who signed a six-year (non-guaranteed), $100 million contract last year. When he was injured, against the Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 11, Vick had taken every snap of the season for the Eagles, even though there were so many whispers, speculation, mixed messages from Andy Reid and injuries. Yet with the season gone and Foles flashing potential, Reid announced a couple of weeks ago that Foles, a third-round pick from Arizona, would finish out the season as the starter. This, despite the expectation that Reid will be dumped after 14 seasons.

Alex Smith wasn't the only one to lose his job after getting concussed.

"When he said it, I understood the reasons why," Vick said. "Coach is looking at our team, with a lot of young guys. I can understand from his point, that I only have so many years left. With me just coming off an injury, he didn't want to risk it. It just makes sense."

Maybe Vick's health was part of the equation for Reid, but I doubt that given the other circumstances it was the overriding factor. In a season going nowhere, it was time to see what the rookie could do and the injury provided the transition.

"That's just the way it is in this league," Vick said. "You just have to deal with it as it comes. But there's no downside to it. We're all blessed to play in this league."

Soon, he will have to ponder his next stop. Vick's contract is structured to guarantee just $3 million against injury only, if he is on the roster two days after the Super Bowl. By cutting him before then, the Eagles would save $12.7 million in salary room.

It's pretty much a given that Vick's next challenge will be to prove that his best days are not in the past.

"I'm in a great position in my career right now," he maintains. "I still have a lot of good football to play. I'm still fairly young. I can still run."

Where will he land next? In a league starving for impact quarterbacks, there will be opportunities, although coaching and philosophy will determine the best fit. The New York Jets just benched Mark Sanchez. The Buffalo Bills considered Vick before the Eagles signed him. The Arizona Cardinals can pit him against Kolb again. The Kansas City Chiefs need help. The Jacksonville Jaguars have gone nowhere with Blaine Gabbert.

The X-factor will be the system. Vick has seen the magic that the Redskins have created with Robert Griffin III triggering their read-option scheme, and with such systems gaining in creative significance it could open doors for a comeback effort.

"I wouldn't mind playing in that type of offense," Vick said. "That's what I did in Atlanta, and I did a lot of it here in 2010. But then the offense kind of changed a little bit. Coach (Howard) Mudd got here. So I had to deal with what I was dealing with, trying to make the most out of it."

Vick doesn't throw Reid under the bus, which is understandable considering how the coach helped save his career, but his mention of Mudd, the offensive line coach, is revealing. Whatever designs were in the works this season, though, collapsed when all-pro left tackle Jason Peters was lost for the season with a torn Achilles tendon, the first in a series of season-ending injuries to afflict the O-line and wreak havoc on the protection for Vick.

What went wrong with Vick's great opportunity in Philadelphia?

"Sometimes, you can try too hard," Reid said.

I asked Vick to interpret Reid's conclusion.

"I think Coach is saying that I give everything I've got, regardless of what I'm surrounded with," he said. "We struggled in a lot of areas. Everybody can say what they think went wrong, but I tried to make every play, because I knew I had to.

"What went wrong? I think it took place on both sides of the ball. I knew when we had to buckle down (on offense) and put ourselves in position not to worry about any other circumstances, to depend on the defense to win the games, or the special teams to win the games. We tried to get it done on offense. Sometimes, you tried too hard."

Vick knows how this played out, too often.

"For me? Turnovers," he said.

It got so bad earlier this season that Vick carried a football around the Eagles' headquarters during one week, harking back to the high school tactic to put emphasis on ball security.

"We were always in position to win games," Vick said. "That's where the total team concept comes into play. You look at the games last year. We lost them all in the fourth quarter. This year, there were other issues. And when one person messes up, it kind of dictates what happens the rest of the game."

Maybe this could have wound up different for Michael Vick.

Yet the turning point, it seems, came on a turnover that ended Vick's first season as the Eagles starter in 2010 and epitomized his unfulfilled promise in Philadelphia.

In the NFC wild-card playoffs, the Eagles needed a last-minute touchdown drive to defeat the Green Bay Packers. Vick jumped the drive with a pass over the middle that DeSean Jackson took for 28 yards and put the Eagles in striking range. Four plays later, it happened. A terrible decision and a bad throw.

Vick threw a 27-yard pass to the end zone for rookie receiver Riley Cooper, who was well-covered by Tramon Williams. The pass was short, intercepted by Williams to seal the Packers victory. Green Bay went on to ultimately win the Super Bowl.

The Eagles and Vick began a tailspin from which they never recovered.

As Vick puts it now, "I would have never expected it to end like this."

Also in play for Week 16 ...

Who's hot: Tony Romo

There's a first time for everything, right? Well, the much-maligned Cowboys quarterback has won the first three games in December for the first time in his career, reversing a pattern of doom in the final month. This month isn't over. The Cowboys host the Saints on Sunday, then could have a winner-take-all-showdown at Washington in the season finale. In winning three consecutive games and five of their past six to position themselves for a shot, the Cowboys have had contributions from all across the board -- a running game fueled by DeMarco Murray, consistency from Dez Bryant, timely big plays from the defense, namely DeMarcus Ware and Brandon Carr. Yet the quarterback has been the rock, and for Romo that begins with protecting the football. Through seven games, Romo threw an NFL-high 13 picks. In the past seven, he's had 13 TDs with just three INTs.

Pressure's on: Andy Dalton

The second-year Cincinnati quarterback is staring at an enormous opportunity -- and challenge. The Bengals, rolling with five victories in their past six contests, can win the AFC North title by winning their final two games. Wonderful' ‚?? they control their own destiny. Now consider the challenge. Since Dalton's arrival, the Bengals have never beaten the Steelers or the Ravens -- the two teams they happen to finish the season against. It's a tall order, but fitting. There will be no backing into the AFC North crown. It must be earned, against a pair of hardened, desperate foes who field an array of veteran playmakers. So, if the Bengals are going to take the next step to be a legitimate contender, we'll find out on Sunday in Pittsburgh. The last time the Bengals faced Pittsburgh and that No. 1-ranked defense, Dalton completed just 50% of his passes and had a season-low 105 yards, and the Bengals still had a shot at winning. The Steelers rode their rushing game to pull away for a seven-point win. And the last time the Bengals saw Baltimore? That was Week 1, when the Ravens opened the season with a 44-13 rout. It's a different Ravens team now, but they're already in the playoffs and if Cincinnati doesn't win on Sunday, the finale may not matter.

On the couch: Greg Schiano

What happened? A month ago, the Bucs were one of the hottest teams in football, in the playoff hunt with a four-game winning streak. Now they are trying to rebound from a humiliating 41-0 loss at New Orleans, and carry a four-game losing skid into Sunday's game against the Rams. The program has made undeniable strides under Schiano, the first-year coach who arrived from Rutgers and installed a new culture. But its apparent that making the playoffs this season was a bit much to expect. Especially with the league's worst pass defense, aided by an anemic pass rush. This week, the buzz has included a quote from an anonymous player suggesting that they send the coaches back to college. Obviously, that's the type of frustration that talks with losing streaks.

Rookie revue: Alfred Morris

When someone asked Robert Griffin III recently who he would vote for as the NFL's Rookie of the Year, the Redskins rookie phenom was diplomatically correct. He dismissed himself (though others won't) and the other two playoff-contending rookie quarterbacks (Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson) and gave some love to his backfield mate. In a previous generation, Morris, a sixth-round pick from Florida Atlantic, probably would have been the frontrunner for the award. He's rushed for 1,322 yards and nine TDs, with a 4.7-yard average on the NFL's top-ranked rushing offense (bolstered by RGIII's occasional bursts). Quietly, Morris ranks third in the league in rushing. Of course, there's no shot at Adrian Peterson's rushing crown, but Morris heads into Sunday's game at Philadelphia engaged in a pretty good race for second place with Seattle's beastly Marshawn Lynch. He's just 57 yards shy of Lynch. Hey, Morris isn't chasing Eric Dickerson, but he has a shot at breaking the single-season Redskins rushing record, needing 195 yards to top the mark that Clinton Portis set in 2005.

Key matchup: Adrian Peterson vs. Texans defense

Last week, Houston allowed Colts rookie Vick Ballard to rush for 105 yards and average 5.8 yards per carry. The week before that, the Patriots gashed the Texans for 133 rushing yards. Now comes the Viking star who is hell-bent on breaking Eric Dickerson's NFL single-season rushing record. Guess we'll see how much the Texans have really slipped in playing against the run. Peterson has cracked 200 yards in two of his past three games, and now stands 294 yards shy of breaking Dickerson's 1984 mark of 2,105. For added incentive, the Vikings are still in the hunt for a wild-card playoff berth, Peterson's in the discussion for MVP honors and, well, Sunday is something of a homecoming game. Peterson grew up in Palestine, an East Texas city about 165 miles north of Houston and spends much his offseason time in Houston.

Next man up: Evan Dietrich-Smith

The Packers have given veteran center Jeff Saturday the hook, installing Dietrich-Smith for his first career start at center on Sunday against the Titans. Although Saturday, 37, has been nursing neck and shoulder injuries, coach Mike McCarthy maintains that the move isn't injury related. Dietrich-Smith, a third-year pro best known for being the opponent that Ndamukong Suh stomped on during a Thanksgiving 2011 incident, moves over from left guard with the return of T.J. Lang. Saturday was signed to a two-year free agent deal last offseason, but is no longer the steady force ‚?? particularly in the running game ‚?? that he was for so many years in front of Peyton Manning with the Colts. Green Bay has undoubtedly had the move now to get a bit more juice from its 20th-ranked rushing attack.

Reality check: Ray Lewis

Officially scratched on Saturday, the iconic Ravens linebacker won't make his return from a torn triceps in Sunday's game against the Giants after all. And apparently it won't happen in the regular-season finale at Cincinnati, either. Now the target for Lewis' return would be the playoffs. That Lewis has returned to practice and is in the discussion to play is remarkable in itself. When he suffered the injury in mid-October, the team called it a season-ending injury and many speculated that it would end his career. Now there's this hope that he can come back to apparently help fuel a run for postseason glory. Hey, any team is always better with the presence of arguably the league's most inspirational leader, but remember Lewis, 37, was having perhaps the worst season of his career when he was injured. Getting him back is not the same as getting back the two-time Defensive MVP. In any event, with the manner the Ravens have collapsed ‚?? perhaps leading to a major offseason shakedown ‚?? the debate about whether Lewis should or will be back next year can be reignited with fresh perspective.

My road to Super Bowl XLVII goes through ‚?¶ Philadelphia

You'd be hard-pressed to find a soul in the City of Brotherly Love who doesn't think that the Eagles' matchup against the Redskins won't be the final game at The Linc for Andy Reid as Philly's coach. In fact, many souls would have wished this end-of-an-era moment would have already occurred. I was at a game two years ago when the charming Philly fans were chanting, "Fire, Andy!" And the Eagles made the playoffs that season. Reid, the NFL's longest-tenured head coach at 14 seasons, took the franchise to a Super Bowl and guided the Eagles to five NFC title games over an eight-year span. But he could never quite get them over the hump. With his extensive power over personnel decisions, there's no passing the buck. The past two years left little hope. The "Dream Team" was an 8-8 nightmare last season, then this season's eight-game losing streak paved the way to the 4-10 record they'll carry into Sunday's farewell.

Did you notice?

After becoming just the third quarterback to toss four TD passes at Gillette Stadium (joining the company of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning) in helping snap the Patriots' 20-game December home winning streak, 49ers riser Colin Kaepernick heads into Sunday night's key NFC West clash at Seattle with the boost of earning his first Offensive Player of the Week award. Seemed it was just a matter of time. Yet it's also notable that he's the second 49ers quarterback so honored this season. Alex Smith won the award for Week 8. Two 49ers quarterbacks in the same season as Player of the Week? They can take their place in franchise history. It happened twice with Joe Montana and Steve Young (1988, 1990) and once with Young and Steve Bono (1991).

Stat's the fact

Cam Newton has settled down. Heading into Sunday's game against Oakland, the second-year pro is playing the most consistent football of his young pro career and has the NFL's longest current streak of passes without an interception, 152. That spans five games, when Newton has thrown for 10 TDs, with zero picks and a 109.8 passer rating. The Panthers have won two consecutive games, and three of their past four. It's too late to make a push for playoff relevance this season, but after the early-season struggles Newton is again fueling hope for future relevance.